Over the holidays, I went on a road trip with Mom, her husband, Rick, and Grandmommy from Atlanta down to — get this — Treasure Island, Florida! Yup. Such a place exists. And no. it’s not an amusement park. ha! Can you imagine Grandmommy at an amusement park? hahaha! …we did get her on a Segway, though. But that’s for a later post.

The photos on this post are a bit quieter. Aside from Treasure Island, we went to DeSoto, Anna Maria Island, Bradenton, St. Petersburg, and a few other places.

I recently realized that I when I listen to music I respond waaaayyy more to the mood a song creates than I do to its lyrics. I always hear how the vocals are sung and never hear what’s being said. Maybe that’s why I like metal?

It didn’t take too long for me to understand I react the same way to photographs.

And as you know, light controls most of the mood of a photo. Sure, so does body language, but when the two meet…

So, these are test shots. I was working on super controlled, film noirish lighting. Like the first Scary Self Portrait post I wanted the eyes to go entirely black, with the exception of two small, piercing, catch lights, made, this time, with an underpowered, tightly gridded monolight. The key light in the above photo is pointed down, off my right shoulder.This picture only uses one gridded mono light, positioned directly underneath my camera & pointed up. The grid is so tight & focused none of the shadow hits the wall.This one is the combination of the two. and as a bonus, here’s me in a luchador mask.

I noticed this cool-looking night scene walking around George Washington University last Tuesday, November 8, 2011 with Charlie Shoemaker during FotoWeek DC.

These are photos from a shoot held on the Bryn Mawr School campus in Baltimore, MD, Sunday, June 19, 2011 for The Collective’s “aLIVE” show at the Creative Alliance Fri Aug 26, 8pm.

This shoot was a lotta fun and it went exactly how I like em’ to go… a little crazy near the end.

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know that recently I’ve been lighting almost exclusively with, what I’m calling, my big dumb light — a Paul C. Buff Einstein 640, modified with an 86″ PLM. It’s a cumbersome thing, but MAN! does it throw a ton of nice light around.

I also designed their post card.…not too bad for a button-pusher, huh?

Marriotts Ridge center midfielder Alex Price led the Mustangs to a 13-3-3 record and the girls soccer team’s first county championship.

Here’s the corresponding Howard County Time Article.

I couldn’t have asked for a better sky that day. …the temperature could’ve been better, though. If I remember correctly, it was hovering around 20-ish degrees, plus wind.

The Marriotts Ridge baseball field was going under some renovation, so rather than take Alex to the stadium (where all those gross white banners live in the background) I put her on top of the mound closest to the backstop.

…that way when she kicked the ball it didn’t go too far.

For all you gear heads out there, I used two Alien Bee 1600′s, both unmodified, at max power, powered by the vagabond II (love that thing) flanking her at the 9 o’clock and 4 o’clock position. I also used an sb-800, on the right, to light the ball.

Same Set up, sans the sb-800.

Jess

Wilde Lake sophomore golfer Tyler Silberberg tied for 11th in the state and is the boys golfer of the year. He is photographed at Hobbits Glen Tuesday, November 30, 2010.

Here‘s Brent Kennedy’s season wrap up.

In case you’re curious, there are two more photos after the jump.

(photo by Matt Roth)

Laurel resident Gabrielle Galvez, with Baltimore Fencing Center of Columbia, won a bronze in the Division 3 Woman’s Epee at the US Fencing Association’s Summer National Championships in Atlanta, GA. Galvez is photographed at BFC Friday, August 20, 2010.

This was a really cool shoot for Howard Magazine. It was a bit challenging, too.

For those who’ve photographed fencers with lights before, they know how super hard it is to show their faces behind all that protective mesh. After a ton of chimping and head-scratching, I eventually figured it out.

Here are some tips. use a shallow-ish DOF. This was shot at f/4.5. Granted, it’s not super shallow, but it’s not f/11. The more closed down, the more defined the mesh and the less face we’ll see. And here’s the kicker, light from the sides!  Utilize modifiers, like umbrellas and parabolics, that are better at wrapping light. …otherwise the strobes will light the metal in front of their faces. make sense? If not, feel free to ask in the comments section below. thanks for checking out the photos!

Buck Jabaily, director of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance stands outside the Single Carrot Theater, which he helped co-found 10 years ago. The small performing arts theater is located in Baltimore’s first arts district, Station North, which was also set up ten years ago.

I worked on a story for the New York Times a few months ago about a proposed third Arts District in Baltimore. They put up a pretty nice little slideshow, too.

Below are a few more from the story, sprinkled with some out takes. I did, however, break a classic rule of shooting architecture… I used a lens way too wide for its own good — a 12-24 f/4. But, as always, it’s not the lens/gear that makes the images interesting, it’s the way their composed.

Enjoy!

The alley behind the Single Carrot Theater is probably the only sanctioned area in Baltimore where graffiti artistry is sanctioned.

But this is part of Station North — an already established Arts District. Below are images from the, otherwise half-nice/half-not-so-nice stretch of road.

The Bromo Seltzer Building, a famous adornment to the Baltimore skyline, houses artists lofts and looms close to the Historic Lexington Market area where the city’s proposed third arts district might exist. The area is anchored by two popular theaters, the Hippodrome and the Everyman theaters. In addition, there several parking garages, and easy access to public transit.

The Abell Building, located on Eutaw street, showcases some of the classic architecture Baltimore is known for.

Milk crates lie on the roof of the Lexington Market MTA train stop exit.